


Fool Soul

by English is my death (Lena013)



Category: One Piece, The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Klaus Hargreeves, Drama, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Family, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ghosts, Humor, Klaus has a problem with ghosts, Klaus loves his family, Klaus misses his family, Klaus this is Shanks, Obscene lexicon, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Psychological Drama, Reincarnation, Reunions, Shanks is Roger and Rayleigh's headache, Siblings, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:13:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26583460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lena013/pseuds/English%20is%20my%20death
Summary: Honestly, Klaus should have gotten used to having his a special relationship with death.Версия на русском.
Relationships: Akagami Kaizoku | Red-Hair Pirates & Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Benn Beckmann, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Buggy, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Dracule Mihawk, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Klaus Hargreeves, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Monkey D. Luffy, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Roger Pirates, Family Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 7
Kudos: 125





	Fool Soul

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native language, please understand and forgive me.

_(1)_

When Klaus Hargreaves died, he hoped... you know, die. Oddly enough, he was exactly fifty percent successful. Klaus doesn't know exactly how long or where he was, how long he wandered around the black-and-white world, cursing branches and leaves and permanent rains, and then he just _opened his eyes._

And the world again had colors, sounds, someone's voices and some wild broken English with an admixture of no less wild Japanese. The woman who had him in her arms _(a baby, fuck, he was a small squeaking baby)_ had the reddest hair he'd ever seen, brown eyes, and a soft, sad smile. Klaus didn't understand what she was saying to him, didn't know the language or the mannerisms to calm her down, because the woman was crying and, as he realized after a personal tantrum, saying goodbye. Klaus doesn't know why he was left to some other people in the middle of the street, why he was abandoned on someone's doorstep, why he was abandoned, but looking back ten years later, he realized that living in this world is still a burden.

It's a good thing that Klaus is used to burdens and difficulties.

_(2)_

Klaus was two again when he realized that only one woman had raised him, when he was able to speak, when he realized _again_ that the other two people in this house were — deads.

_(3)_

The two-year-old did not laugh hysterically, scaring his guardian and pointing a trembling finger at the faint comforting smiles of the ghosts, _no, not at all._

_(4)_

_Shanks._

His name is Shanks, as told him by the woman who raised him, who smokes exorbitantly, and decided to teach him to read at four, cursing the damn and too smart brats. Klaus didn't mention (because obviously he's the most desirable boy to raise, of course) that before that, his name was exclusively either "kid" or "brat" or, his favorite, "hey you" — Klaus didn't complain, no matter how it sounded, he felt a hidden love. Although it is possible that the Ghost of this woman's son explained in detail and bloodily everything.

 _"This world hates pirates",_ they told him with bitterness and deliberate disdain, and the young man next to him grunted in agreement, rubbing his gashed throat, remembering the old days, his captain, and a shoddy death at the hands of some Justice.

And Klaus has one thought burning with Christmas lights in his head: _there real pirates here?_

_(5)_

  
"I'm old enough to leave home". 

"Brat, you're five".

"Someone left at thirteen", the child persisted, with an affectation of a shrug.

"You'll live to be thirteen". 

"And I will live!"

_(6)_

The front door slammed, and the frightened boy crouched on the other side, panting.

"Well, did you go?" woman's voice, hoarse from smoking, said mockingly.

"What the fu... shit is this?" the red-haired child swallowed an expletive on the syllable, clutching at his heart.

"Ha, this is the Grand Line, small", say him.

Klaus doesn't know what the Grand Line is, he's more concerned with the number of two or three ghosts per person.

In this world, there are more dead people than alive, and this is, to put it mildly, _a problem._

_(7)_

This woman dies with a cigarette in her mouth and a house set on fire in the middle of the night. Klaus should be sad, but he's busy cursing, swearing, and a heavy second-floor window that won't open. As well as shards of glass embedded deep in the skin, smoke embedded in the lungs, and the indifferent eyes of the dead waiting to be added to their ranks; Klaus knows from experience that the only one who cares — Ben; _Ben always cares._

And when he does, he yells openly at the ghost of this nice woman, who for the first time in his memory looks startled. The woman laughs, having gone to the other world, obviously with a damned cigarette, ruffles his hair with a cold touch and tells him to get out.

Klaus snorts as he watches people gather around, sighing heavily.

Hell, he's homeless now. And an orphan. And he's only wearing pajama shorts and tank top.

_Not that this was the worst thing he had ever encountered. Not even close._

_(8)_

They call him a madman.

Of course, he was ready, always and uncompromisingly ready for this. But he hoped to avoid it at least until a more conscious age. What is the conscious age? Fifteen or sixteen? Oh, sorry, Five will kill him, _thirteen_ is the peak of consciousness. Not eight years, anyway.

Kids in shitty neighborhoods are just as fucked up and, ironically, so familiar. Yes, he'd lived in places like this since he was seventeen.

_From the age of seventeen and death Ben's._

"Hey, Crazy Pepper", he hears an even more imaginative nickname than in his familiar haunts of his first life (no one wants to go back to dirty hints about non-traditional orientation? Please!) and turns around with the intention of either head butting or punching. Don't get me wrong, Klaus is a pacifist... until the thirty-sixth such appeal in a week. Klaus was raised as a soldier, as a killer, and he was in a couple of wars by mistake, accident and Five, as a separate condition.

Klaus turns around and sees a brat not much older than his current body. Brat's hair is dirty, disheveled, and unbrushed from birth, but the color... Klaus would give a kidney for that shade of blue-blue, scout's honor. Klaus looks further, glides to Kara-green eyes and... chokes on a laugh.

"What can I do for you, _Red Nose?_ " he wonders to himself that he could have uttered this phrase evenly without breaking out in a fit of laughter, but then he is knocked to the ground in alien fit of rage.

Klaus rolls with the child on the muddy gravel, tugging at the child's clothes, enduring the abuse of his own hair without touching anyone else's, and can't resist pinching the boy's nose _(Oh God, he's real),_ almost choking with laughter and a kick in the ribs. Klaus looks into the angry, furious eyes opposite, looks deeper, and stops, freezes, sinks.

His head is filled with the sound of blades slicing through the air, the smell of shitty Cologne, bad flirtation, clumsy care, and over-salted fucking toast.

_Diego._

_(9)_

If Buggy ever cursed a day in his life, it was one where a random attempt to tease some boy led to further fight-hug-chase-smiles-home-fraternity-piracy-fruit.

Yes, if you ask Buggy, it's all Shanks responsibility.

_And Buggy will never say that something about Shanks genuine smile, his freedom, his strength, and his integrity (ignoring the inexplicable inner shiver as he takes another and another bottle) makes him feel calmer._

_(10)_

Klaus went where hundreds and hundreds of ghosts were leading him, asking, demanding, and begging him to look after/kill/sink the captain of that huge ship in the port; Klaus went on and went on, dragging his grumbling brother, who nevertheless did not leave him in his madness alone; Klaus stopped, fell in love, and stayed.

Next to him, next to that captain, next to Gol D. Roger had almost no ghosts; they were afraid of him and his power, which had turned them off, better than any drugs Klaus had taken in the past. Klaus feels that he has an obscenely wide smile instead of a relaxed one, and casually, without a shred of fear, he slips out of his brother's thin grip to come closer, enjoy the silence, the peace, and look into the eyes of this shamelessly tall man in a straw hat.

Oddly enough, a twelve-year-old little thing like him _(still not thirteen, Five, don't touch all sharp objects)_ is quickly noticed.

The eyes of the future Pirate King are light gray, with a seething interest, as if he has stumbled upon a curious problem in front of him — Klaus remembers somewhat Vanya, somewhat Five, somewhat Luther and Allison, somewhat Diego and Ben, even somewhat father.

Klaus remembers family that he hasn't seen United for many, many decades; Klaus breathes in the silence and stillness with his whole being; Klaus smiles, renouncing the name.

"My name is Shanks", his lips ache from the breadth of smile, "and I'm going with you!" 

He doesn't ask or ask — he asserts. The man in front of him laughs, while the blond behind him rolls his eyes, clearly misjudging the scale of the impending disaster.

"It's good that you said it yourself, kid. I'm Roger, the captain of this team", a nod to the part of the crowd that also doesn't notice its future storm, "but that's not all you wanted to say, is it?" this man's insight is as good as Allison's love of using her ability.

"Of course", Shanks points with his thumb behind his back, "my brother's there, he's coming with us".

Roger laughs, agreeing and waving off his first mate, who has realized that _(o_ _h Sea, Roger, are you out of your mind?!)_ the captain speaks, unfortunately, in all seriousness.

_(11)_

Roger often listens to intuition and the Voice of All Things.

Roger sees this child, whose aura is so vast, so pervasive, so torn into tiny pieces, that he is not sure that anyone can put it together from scratch.

Roger understands that this boy is not from here—

_("Where are you from?"_

_"Captain, the less you know, the best you sleep, believe me, I'm an expert in dreams"._ )

—and that he is not a child, and that he needs help, needs ~~freedom~~ silence, needs a family and a home.

So Roger picks up the children, although he would never have taken such young cabin boy to travel through Paradise and the New World, and laughing at all the craziness along with Shanks, who always inserts comments comparisons with something unshakable, breaking into stories about the world, things and people he has never seen — he realizes that he was not mistaken.

And Roger is glad for every sincerity and happiness of this desperate ~~man~~ child.

_(12)_

"Why, oh damn God, why, Roger, did you take the children with you?" Rayleigh lamented as he watched headache number one with a red nose and headache number two with red-hair. Today they have such an order.

Roger slaps him heavily on the shoulder, with his big smile of a real man "D".

"Honestly, I thought Shanks would be the problem, but as it turns out, his brother brings us a lot of adventures!"

Of course, Roger saw their problems and natural quests as adventures. Of course, no one at the entrance had given Rayleigh instructions on how to handle brats, where would have clearly written in black and white: one of them, or maybe two, did not have the "D" in their last name by mistake. Of course, there are problems with the second brat, too, for example, Rayleigh has found his sake more than once or twice at the nimble cabin boy, or on the island he managed to find it in _places_ where he would have thought three times before setting foot.

If in the foreseeable future, thirty years from now, someone dares to ask him, then Shanks is to blame for his gambling addiction.

However, right now it doesn't solve the problem that Buggy managed to accidentally sell himself into slavery, and Shanks, like a true worried brother, was laughing at it from the auction house seats. Honestly, sometimes this brat's sense of humor is scary. And fucking, how disturbing.

However, these are dark thoughts for another day.

Rayleigh looks back at the typical Buggy, which Shanks encourages more than usual, and swims away, dodging punches, chuckling and apologizing; Rayleigh looks at the captain, who looks completely at peace, even enjoying the children's fight, showing that everything is fine; Rayleigh looks at the bottom of the bottle and his eyebrow twitches.

Tenacious eyes catch something too smooth in the movements of the brat... 

"Little shit, are you drunk again?!" 

Shanks does not even slow down, impressively knocking the opponent overboard and only spreads his hands to the sides to angry shouts.

Rayleigh has questions when the captain's hand stops him. Roger just shakes his head. And Rayleigh hates not knowing what's wrong with his crew.

Shanks rubs his eyes with the stinging salt water that the Buggy has shaken out on him, _because souls tormented-used-wounded-trampled-destroyed-humiliated-broken-crushed-festering-and-hungry-for-revenge are standing in front of his eyes, deafening screams to the point of habitual nervous laughter, worms eating into his mind, catching his **fucking attention;** please go away, please let go, please forget; **captain** , help, please, there are too many of them, there are too many of them, take me away, pleas—_

_(13)_

"Hey, how are you?" Shanks asks, managing to drag warm milk past the watchful cook's nose.

"Pft, great", ~~Diego~~ Buggy says proudly, glaring at him hard, biting his lip in utter reluctance, and clearly overstepping himself. "Why are you so sad?"

"Me?" he says in surprise, pointing at himself with his finger, blurring in bacacay smile. "Oh, I appreciate your concern, I always knew that you cared, after all, we are brothers. Of course, I'm perfectly fine, although since you asked, I'm going to have a dry spell and a hangover in the morning, will you be a nice brother and steal me an aspirin?" asks Shanks sweetly, moving closer.

"Fuck you, asshole!" Buggy shouts back, waving the idiot off.

_And he doesn't deny what he said about the brothers._

_Shanks smiles a little brighter, a little lighter._

_(14)_

"She's a beautiful woman", Shanks says, first meeting Rouge, who managed to beat them all dry at cards.

"I agree", Roger whispers, startled.

"Captain, you're not worthy of her", the child continues, equally unperturbed.

"I noticed", the man nodded, missing the message. "Wait! What are you implying?" Roger exclaimed indignantly, staring at his cabin boy, who gave him a look of complete condescension. Even Rayleigh couldn't put it down with his eyes alone.

"Don't worry, old man, I'll provide everything", the boy decided, crunching his neck as if going to battle.

What he was going to do there, Roger didn't know, but his pride told him to go on his own. So he stopped Shanks, putting him hat on his head just in case, and went ahead. Roger was sure of himself and his charm.

_(15)_

"How's it going?" a fourteen-year-old boy asked, pursing his lips and propping his chin on his hand as he looked at the red handprint on the captain's cheek.

"She won't forget me", the captain nodded confidently and uncharacteristically, to the child's sigh of doom. Seriously, even Rayleigh can't sigh like that.

Shanks stood up, still stretching, highlighting the lanky figure, and making Roger think about telling the cook to add more meat to the boy's diet, and Rayleigh to add more training — skin and bones.

"Catch", the hat flies up and lands successfully on the head of its owner, although sliding down over the eyes.

Shanks chuckles as he walks out the door and toward the center of the city, guided by concerned ghosts and a fair evening wind.

_(16)_

Roger droned on and complained to Rayleigh that their cabin boy had been able to charm a lovely, gorgeous, unique adult woman. Moreover, the woman D.

"But he got her Den-Den Mushi number for you and he told her about it, right?" the first mate asks, squinting.

"That's not the point! Why are you laughing, Rayleigh? Rayleigh!"

_(17)_

If Shanks had been asked, he would have said that Rouge is a bold, cheeky _real_ version of Vanya.

But the blue eyes opposite were exclusively hers, exclusively Portgas D. Rouge, soul young and young, younger than many that he had met.

Klaus Hargreeves knows from experience that such people live for the first time in a fleeting, bright fire and leave on their own heroic self-sacrificing terms — _Ben was just like that._

_(18)_

The last person Roger would have expected, if you'll excuse him, to give _effective_ advice in bed was his cabin boy. Although, to be honest, he should have guessed. Roger sometimes doesn't understand how his life came to this.

And _there's no fucking way_ Rayleigh can find out.

Shanks laugh is somehow ominous and dirty.

Oh, for crying out loud.

_(19)_

"I really care how you know so many things about sex that I had to check out in brothels", Roger says carefully, remembering the eyes _that_ famous prostitutes looked at him with.

"Oh, captain", the sly, lousy smile, the mischievous glint in the impudent eyes, "know, you had to make a living somehow..." if it wasn't for the Buggy, Roger would have seriously considered the boy's words.

This brat will give him a heart attack.

Or to death at the hands of Rayleigh. The ship is small. Walls have ears, eyes, tongues, and gossips.

_(20)_

"I'm in love", Shanks says, to Buggy's exasperated sigh. This is the fifth time this evening.

"No, you're an idiot", his brother says, as if the words are set in stone.

"No, Buggy, I'm in love, really in love…"

"Shanks is conetis, not treasures of the world".

"Cos-me-tic, my friend", Shanks corrects him, "and yeah, I'm in love. Get the captain or Rayleigh in here, I'm sure I won't leave this place without some nail polish".

"You're not a girl!" Buggy tries, knowing that it is useless. Oh, my God, they're fearsome pirates, aren't they? What gloss, what powder? 

_Roger's Kaizoku will never admit that Shanks, with red nail polish, a pair of green eye color earrings in one ear, a bunch of braided bracelets on his wrists and one ankle, and a lucky medallion — looks more natural, more alive, and just freer than in the three years they've known each other. And certainly no one will admit that he has become a little nicer, then they will definitely be killed._

_(21)_

Then the Buggy ate some fruit. Fruit with powers. And became... something? How do I check this at all? 

"Hmm... let's cut you up."

"Are you crazy?!" the Buggy bounced off the crazy brother.

Shanks blinked innocently.

"Come on, I can cut myself too".

"What's that for?" Rayleigh prick up.

"I think I'm a Devil Fruit User, too", Shanks said seriously.

There was a long pause of reflection.

"You just jumped into the water after me, you bastard!" Buggy yelled at him, accusing him of lying.

Shanks snorted that he couldn't explain his knowledge from the ghosts that way. Well, be a clairvoyant, not for the first time.

_(22)_

"I'd like his confidence at this age", Crocus grumbles, washing down everything with undiluted coffee. "Aren't teenagers at fifteen supposed to be clumsy, rude things?" 

Rayleigh snorts loudly.

"Look a little to the left", and there's Buggy sulking, which if you wanted would perfectly fit the doctor's description.

"You'll have to get him out of the brothels in a couple of years", Crocus says, taking a sip of the hot drink, noticing how much the first mate is wincing.

"Already", Rayleigh says, and Crocus chokes. "Just so he doesn't start working there", Crocus chokes deeper, feeling a sympathetic Pat on the back. "I just hope that it will pass with age".

Crocus stared at the other man in disbelief, wondering how to tell him that no, it's unlikely; there may be inclinations, and diseases of a specific nature. But decided not to ruin other people's hopes.

_(23)_

Shanks looks at Marco, at the between of the New World and Moby Dick, between winter and summer, remembering the first meeting. Shanks is looking at a soul so old, so abandoned, and so remade that it's scary. Shanks looks into the tired ~~dead~~ living eyes and swallows the question, the help, and the offer of exile. _Because Marco is still alive._

It was so wrong to be alive that Shanks didn't risk talking to him alone, thinking he was just another ghost.

And then, his captain with another captain laughs, talking about children, migraines, fire, Phoenix and ghosts. And Shanks catches the important thing, finding the man with his eyes, meeting the response — _Shanks tries, honestly tries, but can't tell the difference between him and dead._

After all, Klaus doesn't often see the difference between those-who-are-dead and those-who-can't-die.

Shanks thinks that he is not on the path with the Immortals, who are floating on the current of happiness, grief and emptiness, boiling in a single cauldron. No, thanks.

_(24)_

Shanks liked the sea, the salt in his hair, the sun on his skin, and the wind that diluted the desired-required-favorite _silence_. Shanks liked the freedom the pirates represented, liked their dreams, their determination, their hopes, their stubbornness, their loyalty. Shanks liked being a pirate.

_Klaus liked to choose his own path._

Shanks laughed at Crocus's ridiculous puns, made Rayleigh tick, infuriated Buggy, chatted until nightfall with a rare guest of the ship (Rouge, you get prettier every day, but Roger still doesn't deserve you, do you want to find someone better?) and joked about the poor-tired-of-active-brats captain.

Shanks liked to dance, sometimes got into long Rouge skirts (no one admits that the boy looked better with that sly smile of his), painted his nails in different colors, dreamed of growing his hair for fun hairstyles, and cheerfully talked-talked-talked…

Shanks, in fact, could not shut up for hours, surpassing even their captain in this.

Shanks was sad more often than them wanted to be; more inconspicuous than he should have been; more secretive than he should have been — _he looked as if his whole world had crumbled in his hands._

And Shanks wept softly, hard, as if he had learned it with special precision, so that no one would know, notice, ~~or punish~~ — and Roger, having found out not the first and obviously not the last time, gave him a shield.

"She will protect you".

Shanks looked at him like an idiot when he was told this, clutching the battered brim of an old straw hat, biting his lip.

"Thank you", sounds even, without a trace of hysteria, although tears continue to flow, along with the names of siblings in my thoughts.

Roger turns away, but doesn't leave.

"Save it for me, brat".

Shanks nods slightly, pulling it down over his eyes and shivering all over.

_(25)_

Shanks is familiar with death not by hearsay. Perhaps he was closer to her than anyone else. Of course, he knew that his stupid captain was dying; he wasn't blind, really.

He knew from the start that the man in front of him didn't have much left.

Four years later, Roger decided to say that he was disbanding the crew and surrendering to the Marines. He decided, in his true D. way, to tell them that he had been dying for at least five years. Judging by the reaction of the others, they were not aware of this, to put it mildly.

Shanks looked around at the men, and judging by Rayleigh's scowl, there was some part of the captain's plan that he wasn't privy to.

"I'll see you on the other side, captain", Shanks smiles, nodding his head gently, not at all worried about it.

For which he gets a well-deserved punch in the jaw from Buggy, who screams about his callousness while he spits blood on the deck.

_Sometimes Klaus forgets that people have a different opinion about the death of loved ones._

_(26)_

Shanks was at the execution, the place where the New Era began, no matter how pathetic he thought it was — Luther would have admired it. Although... _Klaus grins,_ Luther was definitely on the other side of the pirates, beaming in his blue and white uniform, talking about "Justice" etched into someone's lost, hopeless souls.

Roger smiles, somehow catching it in the motley crowd ( _"Your hair — the most identifying mark, brat"._ )

The blades come down and Shanks looks away. He doesn't like to watch someone close to him get killed, whatever they think. Shanks subconsciously searches for a red nose or blue hair, but finds nothing.

People are starting to disperse, get on ships, and obviously start Hell for the Government for the next generation — Shanks finds this funny. The ghosts disperse with the people, leaving him in the devastated square as he waits, and waits, _and waits..._

_Klaus smiles for the first time, enjoying his abilities._

"Can I tell you the way?" he asks the new-found ghost, who stops in surprise and then laughs heartily.

_(27)_

He was able to track down the _Die—_ Buggy. Buggy, of course. He decided to hide in East Blue, the calmest and most temperate of all seas. Although, if someone had asked him, he would have reminded them that in a quiet pool, those are still devils found. What only cost his sweet quiet Vanya, whose hysteria cost them the world.

Buggy didn't send him an ambiguous message, promising to shove the first Devil's Fruit down his throat and kick it into the water — Shanks hugged the struggling body, gave him his number, and asked him to call once a month, otherwise he would find it.

"Kids grow up so fast", the red-haired teen wiped away a fake tear.

"Get out of here, asshole!" his shouted after him, followed by curses.

_(28)_

Shanks was glad, ready to pray to all the known gods that they had kept his brother as far away from South Blue as possible.

Shanks had run, hidden, and fought so much, so often, _that he could almost taste ash, metal, smoke, and earth; he could feel the trembling fingers that loaded the machine gun, the stun of the grenades that flew overhead and landed here and there; he could feel every part of his body ache, his bones crack, his voice crack with screams, the bullets coming in and out of his body—_

**_—how the dead were no different from the living, because everyone was covered in blood-blood-blood—_ **

Rouge. 

He needs to find Rouge.

Shanks winced as he pushed through the people _(alive? dead?)_ coughing from the smoke and running towards the fire, hearing angry screams, pleas for mercy, despair in everyone's voice, feeling icy and hot touches from everyone around. Shanks searched with his eyes, caught the bloodless-pale alive-dead and mutilated-bloody dead-alive. Shanks stumbled, scraped at his knees, hid, and breathed every now and then.

Shanks clenched his fists and held back his rage.

They. Killed. The. Children.

_They were looking for the captain's child._

They killed pregnant women and term-fit babies, they broke into houses, lined them up, and almost executed them in public, they burned houses, lured those who were hiding out and cut off their heads, plunged blades into their bellies, beat them so hard that they could have split the ground — they made a real massacre.

Shanks gritted his teeth and was so glad, _so very glad,_ that he was able to persuade the captain to go to the next world without delay, _swearing to the dead that he would look after his child and Rouge._

South Blue was burning, leaving soot and the smell of burning flesh in the air over many of the Islands Shanks had visited — sometimes later, sometimes earlier, most often after raid and bloodshed. It was so disgusting that he didn't even have the proper words to describe how he felt about the people who gave him the order, let alone the executors.

_Klaus looks at the dead, grieving women and runs-runs-runs, as far as possible from the souls who are doomed to eternal wandering._

_(29)_

Two years. He searched for her for two years, to find a grave with her name and without her last name. He scribbles out the full name with a blunt blade and a slanting hand, thinking that "D." should not be forgotten. He sits down next to her, if he doesn't fall on his knees at all; he looks tired, ten years older, and listens to the island, to the gravestones, to the stories of the dead nearby, until he understands: she left in peace.

Shanks tries not to think about what Roger would say, holding the hat closer to his head so it won't blow away.

He doesn't want to think about whether she left with the baby in her arms, or whether she went to peace after making sure it was alive.

_Because Klaus believes that no one would leave their child without being sure that they were all right._

He doesn't know that a long pregnancy cost Portgas D. Rouge of the soul. Not that she wouldn't do it a hundred more times if she had to. Women D. have always been more fiercely protective of what belongs to them.

_(30)_

_"Hey, brat, what cool names do you know?" Roger asks, chuckling at the thought, as Rouge reproaches him._

_"Klaus", without hesitation Shanks says, as if he had a prepared answer to this._

_"Don't be ridiculous!" Buggy exclaims, appearing out of thin air because he could smell Shanks doing something stupid. "The best name for a boy — 'Buggy' and 'Ann' is the best name for a girl!"_

_"Oh, and why 'Ann'?" Rouge asked softly._

_Buggy blushed, looked away, and began to fiddle with the edge of his sailor suit: "That was my mother's name…"_

_Rouge smiled knowingly._

_"It's a beautiful name", she said, making the teenager blush even more._

_The idyll was broken by the snap of the second teenager's fingers._

_"Ace!"_

_"What?" no one understood._

_"Well-well", Shanks chuckled, not at all disconcerted by their ignorance, "Ace as the trump card of life."_

_Buggy looked at him like he was an idiot, while Roger laughed out loud._

_"I like it! 'Ann' for the girl, 'Ace' for the boy", he said cheerfully, turning to Rouge._

_"That sounds great", she smiled._

_(31)_

If Shanks was drinking too much... he had a reason, period. No Klaus's tendencies, no drugs, fun pills, and horse doses of antidepressants, _just so you don't hear, forget, see..._

If Shanks got into a drunken brawl, it wasn't His fault — there were assholes and assholes around, just waiting for someone to fix their face.

If Shanks is lying in the middle of an alley, it's out of pure nostalgia, not because he's drunk seven times the normal amount and was beaten up by a local gang of a dozen men, turning him into a bloody mess. Hell, he think three ribs are broken, at least. This body is only nineteen, and he's already had so many broken bones ( _even though it's not the same as daddy and his methods of raising heroes.)_

If Shanks hears offers of help, he sends it to the four famous symbol, purely out of spite. He's in a bad mood, please fuck off, he's fucked up a lot in his new life.

"Still, don't fool the rats with the joy of getting fresh carrion", the man says, and Shanks looks up from the small patch of sky, turning his head.

If Shanks chokes, rushes forward, stumbles, cries, clings to the legs of a shocked stranger, breaking into real sobs mixed with ironic laughter — it's from happiness.

_Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben…_

_(32)_

Of course, he met him after drinking, beating, and self-destruction.

Of course, he behaved terribly, stupidly, strangely, idiotically at that moment.

Of course, he kept him away from himself, the madman, for a couple of months.

Of course, all this time he was following him, smiling from ear to ear, and chattering incessantly about everything.

Of course, Ben _(his name is even the same, you'd think the vowel was softened and an extra letter was added!)_ wished a thousand times that I'd walked past some half-dead jerk.

Of course, Ben sighed, resigned himself, and went with him.

Of course, Ben became his first assistant in a new-new pirate adventure.

_(33)_

"Once again, my name is Benn."

"Heading north, Ben!" 

"Are you listening to what I'm saying?!"

"Clear and distinct!"

_(34)_

At some point, Shanks will have to take back all his words about Luther when he sees _him_. The man is strong, confident, with yellow sharp eyes, looking for prey, with a cross-shaped sword larger than himself, and a seriousness with pathos that exceeds the permissible norms of taking Shanks per day.

Yeap, of course, the pirates are still pathetic bastards, but they somehow do not mix with this stony expression and _absolute seriousness._

Shanks imagined what Allison would say to that, and couldn't help but laugh. In General, Shanks should meet Rayleigh one day and bow at his feet for teaching him how to handle a saber more accurately and expertly. And, apparently, the fact that he didn't die in the first sixty seconds made him a special person, worthy of life, because the too-pretentious-man put the sword behind his back, turned around and silently began to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Shanks shouted, _not daring to lose anyone._ "What's your name at least, pretty boy?" shit, he couldn't help but admit that despite the pathos, the grim seriousness, the murderous power, and _Luther_ , he was hot, too hot. Gods, this world is divided into either unrealistically disgusting people or too hot for his weak pansexual heart.

The man turns around, giving a look that would make a normal person cringe and run to the ends of the earth — this one ("moron", Benn whispers) is just thrilled.

"Dracule Mihawk".

Pause.

Shanks clutched his stomach with laughter, barely standing up and saying something about "Dracula" and vampires.

Benn chose to forget that island and the completely destroyed port town like a bad dream.

_(35)_

"By the way, I'm Shanks!" 

"..."

"I'm also very happy to meet you, do you want to eat? We can catch the sea king or go fishing". 

"..."

"Oh, and I also have to introduce you to Benn, my first assistant. Don't tell him I called him "Benn," or he'll be happy for nothing".

"..." 

"And I'll introduce you to Buggy, he's my brother, and you'll get along, I assure you. He also carries blades, and you can't cut him, he's user. Devil Fruit At least without the haki. Who knows, though? Never checked it's about time — you'll check!"

"…"

"Oh, that's right, you are my brother from now on. Yes, I will call you Nii-chan". 

" **No** ".

_(36)_

Mihawk thinks his annoying new friend is an idiot. It is loud and noisy, persistent and clingy; with green eyes and a hazy haze _(something prickled uneasily in his chest),_ red-hair, nail polish and waving hands, with the chime of braided bracelets with metal trinkets _(is that a gorilla and a star on one of them?)_ He can chatter, ignoring the other person's lack of interest, throw himself at them without fear of losing his head, and whisper questions about the stars, the attic, _the voice_ , and the dark-skinned woman with blonde curls — Mihawk doesn't understand what this madman is talking about and with great pleasure hands it to a serious guy with a cigarette in his mouth _(he thinks about octopuses, funerals and regret)_ and then disappears.

Mihawk leaves, hoping not to meet these two pirates again, who give him a headache and a nervous twitch of an eyebrow. Mihawk sails these waters only with the goal of becoming stronger, winning each match and not stopping until he reaches the top, leaving potential rivals alive to hone his the skill. Mihawk feels sorry and doesn't feel sorry when, ten years later, the blood-haired crazy can be called a good rival, drinking buddy, and _(only possibly)_ friend.

Until he doesn't lose that right by doing something incomprehensibly **stupid.**

Until he arrives, after a year of skipping their meetings, with an ear-to-ear smile, glowing green eyes, and an _empty_ sleeve.

_Until the ever-hard heart is wrung with an inexplicable anxiety, and for the first time in his life he fears for someone that he can't raise a sword against them._

However, Mihawk does not explain this to anyone.

_(37)_

Shanks is sailing through Paradise, West Blue _(of course it's for good sake, Benny, what are you talking about?)_ and East Blue; he doesn't put together a team purposefully, in fact: a good man there, a dreamer here, an escape from execution in between all, as it turns out. Shanks never thought of becoming as great as his captain, but he wants to be strong enough not to be afraid; to organize silence around him; to seek and ~~be~~ ~~needed~~ , ~~free~~ , ~~desired~~ not to be alone. Shanks has a lot of fun, and teaches the team the basics of haki, introduces them to Buggy _(who tried to stab him thirty times a night, but that's okay),_ proudly introduces the first mate to his brother, and, all of you I-don't-care-about-you-die-in-ditch, Buggy stops making faces for a moment, criticizing, questioning, and promising a slow death if something happens to this idiot — not that anyone but Buggy and Benn would notice. And then Shanks swoops in, grabbing both of them by the shoulders, pulling them close, and proclaiming: "Now we three are brothers!"

"No way!" 

"Are you crazy?!" 

"That's not how it's done, you idiot!"

It can be heard from both sides, but Shanks pretends to be deaf, starts the party; is it worth saying that the Buggy Pirates adore him?

_The Two and Six sit separately from everyone, complaining to each other about what an the Four is idiot._

_(38)_

Their captain has the stupidest pants with purple pineapples that every crew member has ever seen, their captain has small scars on his hands from rubble, branches, fire and _screams, war, carnage, ghosts,_ their captain has three deep bleeding stripes crossing his left eye, a shitty grin and an evil look directed across the ocean.

They know, the captain doesn't tell them much _(not because he doesn't trust them, no)_ because he doesn't think they'll believe him; the captain can be smarter and more serious than anyone they've ever met, he's good at science, art, music, booze, and weapons _(he's the one who picked out the perfect rifle for Yasopp)_ the captain never talks about the past, but he values the non-blood family very much and accepts you even with the most fucked-up fetishes, so Yes, their team is one-third freaks.

Their captain, despite a very good education and intelligence, can be an _incredible_ child; taunts run off him like water, and senseless fights he goes around a mile without fear of getting hit in the already wounded eye by someone (you can't say that these people leave unscathed after, but the captain does not need to know about this); there are days like this when their kind, strong, impossible captain gets so drunk that he laughs with a touch of mental breakdown, when he throws himself on their first mate and says nonsense (Lucky Roux once suggested it was a different language), when he is in tears and laughter, when he looks pointlessly behind them, through them, beyond them, and then passes out somewhere on the same cozy Beckman's shoulder, leaving his nakamas helpless and useless.

They are all very fond of their stupid, all-knowing, lost-in-themselves captain, and they are destroyed by the fact that they can't help him.

_(39)_

Shanks loves East Blue, the sea doesn't try to kill you every second, the marines are a laugh, ladies and gentlemen for every taste. Shanks goes from city to city, from island to island, from inconspicuous villages to the backwoods — and his nakama is always with him wherever he takes them. Oh, it's nice, actually. Shanks takes them to Foosha, meets a child with a soul so bright, so strong that it hurts his eyes, and declares that they are staying here indefinitely — and his wonderful-beautiful-amazing nakama doesn't mind.

Shanks already said he loves them, right?

Luffy is happiness, energy and stupidity multiplied by two hundred and raised to the absolute. Luffy is a lucky boy with big brown eyes full of stars as he tells his adventures, his captain, and tales of a family with five brothers and two sisters. Luffy is love and joy in its purest form, which a child doesn't hesitate to share with others, and there is _so much_ of it that Shanks is suffocating.

Shanks is very, very fond of this child, him and the lovely bar owner (an angel from heaven, no less) Makino, who just like that, without questions and restrictions on plowing, opened the doors of their lives and hearts, and let them all in. And his heart is torn by their trust, and it hurts from the loneliness of the child splashing at the bottom of the black-black pupils — so, yes Shanks decided to stay, don't know how or how much.

And the year passed so quickly and unnoticed that Shanks almost wished he had a grumpy Five with him, begging him to move back in time and relive those days once more. _Klaus is ready to give a leg to the fact that the Five sooner or later, too, will love this child with all his old black heart._ But, as Ben had pointed out, it was time for them to go.

And they definitely **won't** take Luffy with them, no matter how much Luffy begs or tries to convince them — _Shanks almost had a heart attack when the boy almost got a knife in his eye (according to nakama, he scolded him longer than Makino) —_ he didn't try to persuade. Shanks knows that a child does not belong on a pirate ship, certainly not on the Grand Line; Oh, God forbid, they will cross paths with Whitebeard and he will want a child for himself (of course, he will, you have seen this charming boy?); Shanks knows that even though Buggy didn't say anything like that, He was always uneasy about their captain's adventures, and wildly afraid, and how many times they almost died is incomprehensible; Shanks remembers how he saved Buggy from the events in South Blue, _remembers the hundreds and thousands of screams of the living and the dead, their hands ripping off the skin, biting into his flesh, the searing heat of the fire and search-search-search—_

He would never have let any child see or feel it if he could — he remembers the look in Rayleigh's eyes when he came back to him, all twisted and bandaged, with his eyes dim and the echo of other people's pleas in his ears; he would have liked to explain to Rayleigh that somewhere under the shell he was a grown boy, a soldier, a warrior, a cult leader and in general a representative of all sorts of minorities, but only broke into a half-laugh, half-cry.

So, Luffy, He only says "no" between a thousand and a million times. In the background, there is some kind of skirmish with a bandit whose name he doesn't even bother to remember, and they sail away, promising to stop by on the way back. Benn had to pull it out him out of self-pity that the boy wouldn't love him as much as and Buggy did, because the kid had eaten the Devil's Fruit because of Him, too; if they met the Kaizoku Buggy somewhere beyond the Dawn Island, then their clown-captain deserved a slap on the back of the head. And then... everything not goes to hell, of course, in this world the danger is always between the oxygen and ozone molecules in the air, but still not very good.

Shanks floats in the water, holding a drowning user Devil Fruit, so close, so familiar, that he pays no attention to anything but the crying baby.

"Don't cry, Luffy, there's not much in this world that's worth your tears", and he says it in all seriousness, he knows that this world may not even deserve such a wonderful creature as Luffy.

Oddly, his banal words only made Luffy sob harder; Shanks doesn't pay attention to the spreading bloodstain or the phantom pain of his missing limb — honestly, giving up your hand for Luffy is nothing.

_(40)_

"Hey, anchor", Shanks sits down on one knee, parting with the straw hat unusually easily, "will you save it for me? And she will look after you for me", the hat, too big for a boy, covers his dark hair, small fingers clinging to its edges with the power of hope, promise, and change in the world.

"I promise", Luffy says in a shaky voice, swallowing a lump in his throat and tears, " **I'll be the Pirate King** ".

Shanks stands up, smiles and laughs. Not over Luffy, never over this kid. The wind blows a little stronger, carrying away words, vows and foreshadowing a storm.

"Find me later, kid!" Shanks tells him as He boards the ship and soaking the smile that is brighter and closer than the sun above their heads.

"I will become much stronger than you, Shanks! And my team will be much, much stronger than yours! And I will have a musician! Absolutely!" 

And Shanks laughs so hard that his stomach and the corners of his mouth ache with happiness.

  
_(41)_

When Luffy first met Shanks, he found Him strange. He was smiling, but it didn't feel like a person who wanted to smile — and Luffy didn't like it. He didn't understand this man who was saying strange words to Makino that made her blush and smile shyly for _real_.

So the first thing Luffy said to Shanks was: "You're very strange, old man", and with such conviction and confidence that you can break mountains, not to mention the silence that followed and the roar of laughter from the other men when He said it. Luffy then took offense at them, thinking that they were laughing at him.

But then Shanks met Him, started talking to him, and Luffy fell in love with him. Just like that, no foreplay, because of course Shanks is awesome, no matter what grandpa says a couple of years later, plus forever. And Shanks knew how to tell, how to attract the eyes of not only the children, but also Makino, and even his team, who, as it turned out, were hearing the story of umbrellas and children for the first time, as he touched his left wrist, looking for something that wasn't there.

Oh, and Shanks knew so-o-o many amazing stories! About the Jedi and the force, about the boy-who-lived and magic, about hobbits and the ring, about superheroes and saving the world — Shanks knew so many stories that even Benn whistled.

"Captain, you should write books", and Luffy agreed. He is even willing to sit with Makino and her lessons a little longer to learn how to read! But Shanks just waved it off, saying something about some copyright.

Many-many time later _(or three months, as Makino said)_ Luffy realized that he wanted Shanks to smile wider, more genuinely, _more truly._ Luffy also realized that He wanted to join his team. But stupid Shanks didn't appreciate his well-considered decision. And Luffy was scolded even more when He tried to prove them wrong.

But Luffy still loved Shanks, even when He did something stupid, like letting the bandit hit him and spill sake, Luffy turned away in anger and ate something that was in the chest on the bar. If Luffy said something rude to Shanks, He didn't seem offended, Luffy knew how Shanks looks in fear, happiness, disappointment and sadness — there is nothing like that.

And then... the bandits came back.

And Shanks was angry. Luffy had never seen such anger, calm and even-tempered, with a smile towards him and an inappropriate joke, and a look that made a few bandits flinch; Luffy wondered if Shanks always had such dark green eyes; Luffy wanted to say something incredibly stupid, basically, why was Shanks suddenly... _not Shanks?_ Something big and dark and frightening, like a silent night in a forest made up of predators. But then the bandit dragged him to the boat, the sea and threw him into the water. Luffy, who can't swim even to the Fruit, floundered for no more than five seconds, during which the sea king managed to devour the bandit and was preparing to swallow him as well, when Shanks appeared.

Luffy thinks that he can never forget the sound of muscles, tendons, and bones being torn off when something bites off a human limb.

Luffy cried and cried, clinging to Shanks white- _red_ shirt, not noticing the sea king's departure, or the comforting hand on his head, _because Shanks gave his **hand** for it._  
  
Luffy couldn't help but cry harder when Shanks said with a smile that it was a small thing.

_(42)_

Promising to be the Pirate King, Luffy didn't expect to hear laughter. Sincere and long-awaited. Loud and uncertain, as if for the first time in many, many years.

Luffy liked the sound so much that he began to promise more, to take on a greater and more complex dream, swearing-swearing-and-swearing, holding on to the straw hat as if it were the greatest treasure of his life.

And Shanks's smile became _real_.

_(43)_

Buggy didn't appreciate his new look: neither the missing hat, nor the lost hand — clenching his teeth so that you could hear them snap together.

Mihawk stared blankly at his empty sleeve, ignoring his every word, wide smile, and a thousand stories about Luffy, just like Buggy.

Klaus sighs internally, in the same time period keeping ~~Diego~~ Buggy using haki, that he did not run and did something stupid, and in the other indignantly watching unhappy with ~~Luther~~ Mihawk, which is simply and without the usual pomp announced that from now on they are rivals and they are more along the way.

His brothers can be such stubborn assholes, really.

_(44)_

Shanks is sure that he became a Yonko by accident, and perhaps only because one Vice Admiral decided for no reason that he was His personal enemy number one. What a touchy-feely fellow, oh big deal, let loose a couple of obscene rumors about his captain and his old rival in his youth, to Rayleigh's appreciative laughter.

Who knew that if you survive a couple dozen skirmishes with Garp, then all else the children's rides, and become the Emperor of the Grand Line is not so difficult. And Rayleigh then was still talking about dangers, politics, territories, and lands. On the other hand, they finally got rid of the bloodthirsty old man, and his nakama in safety.

~~And what kind of depravity of minors were we talking about?~~

_(45)_

Shanks liked Marco, honestly, but... he also understood why they didn't get along. That is already a little more than it could boast the first mate of Whitebeard, in that time, Shanks decided not to report.

It is not necessary for someone to know that they are two geometrically opposite sides of life and death.

Shanks catches the eyes of the blue fire of the Phoenix, its healing nature, granting life, granting rebirth, granting _immortality._

_Oh, Klaus only knows a little more about immortality than many Devil Fruit user._

Shanks catches the ghosts of another era with his eyes, which is significant, knowing how _diverse_ fashion is in this world. He watches, listens to the silence of others, and is tempted to do something stupid. The dead don't even pay attention to him, don't think he sees them. Tough case, actually, considering how many duty ghosts just _don't shut up._

Shanks catches an answering glance of blue-blue-blue, almost like all the seas bubbling with life (for the sake of others, not himself), under their ships.

"What are you watching?" Marco asks lazily, hiding his tension.

"Oh, I fell in love", Shanks says impressively, and it seems that one of Whitebeard's team stumbled, bumping into another, who seemed to be in the form of a cook. Marco didn't move an eye. "But for a serious relationship, I like to find out the age, you never know, suddenly I will contact a minor..." he directly _feels_ Benn put his hand to his face behind his back, while the blonde calmly answers him.

"Seventy-six".

Shanks grins, leans in.

"If draw a zero, or two, at the end?" the interlocutor does not change his face at all, although the brighter burning blue eyes give out. "Oh, it looks like a secret", he lowers his voice.

It was probably the only time that all the whitebeards had ever seen Marco throw someone — _whole Yonko_ — overboard without thinking about the consequences. Shanks only laughed, stopping his team from retribution, while the commander of the first division, although he apologized, refused to comment even on Oyaji.

So yeah, he and Marco don't get along a bit.

_(46)_

"You know, you have the eyes of death", Marco tells him, between a break, a conversation with Whitebeard, and the team drinking.

 _Klaus laughs, takes a mental drag on the joint, and looks blearily back at the dead_ — Shanks twists his dry lips, looking into his eyes, and tries not to look over his shoulder, or even at them.

"Doubtful compliment", lazily leads a sharp shoulder in the direction of Yonko, looking at the black sea, the lights in the diesel lamps and the blue abyss opposite. "Personally, I saw it in black and white".

Marco laughs, as if he's said something funny, in a way that attracts the attention of some of his brothers. Shanks smiles at them, saluting them with a mug of beer, and Phoenix exhales the air with the taste of ash, burning times and antiquity.

"The colors appear about the seventh time", he sighs, and the blue eyes fade a little, not distinguishing them from blind or dead.

Shanks decides not to specify — _Klaus dreams not to check._

_(47)_

  
Sometimes Shanks may decide that robbing the Marine bases with items confiscated from pirates is a great idea. And the fact that there is one hundred percent first — class booze-so, a coincidence. That's what his captain always says, grinning at the wall.

"I don't get paid enough for this".

"Benn, you run our Treasury", Lucky Roux interjects.

Shanks smiles drunkenly, hanging on to his shoulder, mispronouncing his name with his exceptionally incorrect pronunciation.

"Very. Little".

_(48)_

Benn knew had with his captain… _something's_ wrong. Purely intuitively, without primary, and sometimes vividly conspicuous signs. Shanks was an amazing, no-holds-barred man; cheerful, cheerful, helping passers-by just because, and loving his nakama with all his heart, but... he sat in bars, drinking half the contents of the assortment alone, he laughed so fake, so broken that teeth ached and his ears hurt, he said some nonsense, and only after a while Benn realized that this is a _different_ language (an unprecedented luxury in their world) he called names, breaking into several vowels, telling something and sobbing, he still smiled somehow adding to his appearance from above for at least forty years, he was stuck in brothels, far from being a client, and, one day, he was Smoking something of unknown origin, and that's when Benn's whole being screamed to take it away and throw it away, to put ~~brother~~ captain on his feet and bring him to his senses.

And the next day, or two days later, as if nothing had happened. Shanks sidestepped the topic with unprecedented professionalism; Shanks caught his eyes, could even send a knowing smile and remove an extra bottle from himself; Shanks did not break down in front of him in a sober state.

But one day he asked, very softly, hesitantly and vaguely, with that unknown accent: "You see?"

And Benn didn't understand the meaning of the question, narrowed his eyes a little, and must have answered incorrectly in some way, because in response, the captain casually shrugged his shoulder, shifting his attention, smiling and saying that they could do with a visit to Mihawk's castle, so that he wouldn't be bored in his hermit's life.

And Benn tells himself that he can't just grab the jerk's hand and ask directly, _because it's not easy with ~~Hargreeves~~ them._ Benn doesn't notice the plural right away, either. But he doesn't focus on it.

_(49)_

His captain has these moments, sad, full of longing, looking through you, behind you, like a stray cat that sees something bigger than you in the dark and the walls.

"Hey, Benny", Shanks's voice is sweet, and Beckman isn't sure if it's the voice or the endearment that makes him cringe in the first place. "Do you remember the other stars?"

And he stares intently, mocking his own question, tangling the fingers of his single hand in his red-hair, ruffling it.

What could he say? 

"Captain, the stars have always been like this". 

Only the truth.

"Boring", he snorts.

_(50)_

Shanks looks up at the stars, thinks of cold house, _umbrellas_ , crypt, _family_ , Apocalypse, _baking_ , sixty-third year, _Five_ and death.

Shanks looks at the stars for any familiar constellations, finds none, and gives them names: from One to Seven, from monkey to android, from callous old man to love in Vietnam.

Shanks looks up at the stars, remembering the captain's laughter, the sun, Rayleigh's grumbling, Buggy's displeasure, and Rouge's freckles.

_Klaus hears the sound of bullets, knowing that they were all killed at once, and the Five was late._

_(51)_

Klaus is kind of grateful to his father for giving them almost five higher educations by the time they are eighteen — Shanks makes neutrality deals between all the Yonkos, talks to all the Elders and ignores the ghosts around them with all his might.

Shanks doesn't like to hear that there's a major villain sitting on the throne, but honestly, it's not his problem. Shanks sees the army of ghosts behind Kaido's giant figure and crushes his regret and sympathy. Shanks meets Big Mum and bites the inside of his cheek because she _eats_ souls — _the most understanding and tolerant Klaus would never have thought that he could feel **such** disgust._ If it weren't for the living-material-steel Ben nearby: he would have destroyed his own work.

Being a Yonko is exhausting; especially being the only Yonko who values political relations, knows their importance, and handles conflicts between all parties.

Khm. In Retrospect, it was probably for this reason that he was no longer being chased by the Marine ships. Yes, it makes sense (apart from the angry threat letters from one Vice Admiral and the mass destruction of his favorite brand of booze, fiend!).

_(52)_

Few people know that the Admiral of the Fleet falls almost daily to remind his friend, Vice Admiral, Hero of the Marines, and, oh sea, a whole "D." what they cannot kill are only willing to cooperate and mediate between all, Yonko, only this has stopped multiple victims, open usurpation, and the sea itself was a little better! Not that Monkey D. Garp who genuinely thought the red-haired bastard was a child molester, was convinced. Where, why, and how the Vice Admiral came to this conclusion, Sengoku did not understand, because explanations and evidence are the lot of meticulous cowards, obviously.

The Admiral of the Fleet was both glad and not every day that there was a Akagami no Shanks in their sea (and that was after he found out that for most of the Kenbunshoku Haki, this Yonko was just a damn huge thing that couldn't be found).

Somewhere far away on the Grand Line, a sneezing Shanks began to suspect he had a cold.

_(53)_

Years passed, and another decade passed so quickly that Shanks noticed only by the gray hair of Ben and laughed for thirty minutes, because his brother, of course, is a special man who did not turn gray gradually, as Rayleigh did, but just for a week at a time and gray.

The fact that Shanks had managed to get into a fight with Kaido this week, barely holding the frail and ragged agreement at the edges, because their captain again somehow magically found out that Kaido was planning to take the lands of Whitebeard and him, and almost gave up in the process of the battle — his captain did not think.

Benn always _(always?)_ knew that ~~if~~ ~~he were alive~~ he would turn gray because of him.

_(54)_

Shanks watched the sunset, reading the newspaper about the revolutionaries (laughing inwardly, because, Oh, Yes, he was waiting for someone in this stoned society to have the balls to break the Government) and licking his wounds when he decided to honor him with his company, o Great Shichibukai and the world's strongest swordsman.

"I don't like the look in your eyes", Mihawk said instead of greeting him, apparently feeling with the help Kenbunshoku Haki the flattering thoughts of from brother-who-he-doesn't-recognize-as-such.

"Well-well", Shanks grins, half-turning, "I love you with all my heart, and I praise you and brag to nakama about what a great brother I have!"

Perhaps Mihawk's steadfast unbreakable control cracked a little and his eye twitched, or it's a trick of the light, if you value your life.

"I met your brat", Shichibukai muttered, throwing search flyers in his face, _and unwittingly calming his heart a little when he saw the right smile._

"Be-e-en! Everything!" he shouts, jumping up from his seat, throwing the single hand with the leaflet over Mihawk's shoulder, who winces a little, but doesn't push him away. "Luffy went to sea! Look at him, look at him!" he waves his hand with a leaflet that shows a boy with the biggest smile in the world. "Isn't he lovely, Hawk?" he shortens the name of Shichibukai to ridiculous, for which he receives an instant elbow with haki under the ribs.

But it didn't even lessen the idiot's joy.

_(55)_

Shanks reads newspaper after newspaper about Luffy, keeping them and his new and new flyers. It is indecent so much proud that the voices don't care about him, and the nights seem to be pretty quiet. He does not see the past and does not chase dangerous adventures, booze and laughing substances.

He's just satisfied.

_(56)_

Rayleigh calls the Shanks after Luffy survived, otherwise it will not be called, Sabaody: Admiral, Shichibukai, Pacifists, _he strike Tenryubito?!_ This boy just wants him dead, that's the secret. Shanks idly wonders if this is what Vanya always felt when they went on dangerous missions and she was left alone, safe, and helpless…

_'Do not think', these are dangerous thoughts that border on reflection and binge drinking. Benny will swear again, promised to call for such a Buggy to sit on his ears. Buggy can, he's a professional at it._

Shanks sighs, exhales, and catches a note of nostalgia and joy in Rayleigh's voice that has faded with the death of their captain.

"Yes, Luffy has that effect on people", Shanks laughs.

_(57)_

But now everything is definitely going to hell. And to the most natural, bloodthirsty and grinning in a toothy bloodthirsty grin. _Klaus looks at Ben and doesn't realize right away, oh no, not in the first five seconds, that he's seeing a ghost._ Shanks swears, cursing Kaido, the marines, this shoddy world, lousy laws and **himself**. _Klaus greets them all at the funeral, even the Five one returned after seventeen years, not a day older, all the proud self-confident shit they remembered and, oh yes, the End of the World is coming._ Shanks promised the captain to take care of his child and Rouge, a Rouge, that will protect them, because I wanted to, because his captain deserved to go in peace, yet could not get stuck on earth as millions of souls wandering around. _Vanya was there, always, as their shadow, as not a member of the family, deprived and unnecessary; their weak, fragile, smart, sweet Vanya; the world broke, cracked and listened to its lullaby played on the white violin of the Apocalypse._ Shanks found the grave, thinking that was all, looking eyes and haki at each ghost, losing himself among them, and not meeting Rouge — he thought they were both dead. _In another time, fifty-six years before their end, they die in another place, time, and all at once._ Shanks will hate himself if he's late.

The Marineford — this is **war**.

And how good it is that _Klaus_ was in the war, knows it as well as the clubs with neon lights; that _Klaus_ was taught to fight from the cradle, not to react to blood, slaughter and death; that _Klaus_ has a small, but power, _over_ death.

Shanks has always been and will always be Klaus Hargreeves, whether he wants to or not.

God, he hadn't been one for a lifetime. He haven't done anything like this in what, forty years? But if think about it, if focus on haki, the ground, the eyes, the blue glow of the hand…

 _Ghosts come to life, return to battle, grabbing the marines by their limbs, clinging to their white-blue-red uniforms, tearing them apart, screaming in agony and revenge, in surprise and joy, in the desire to fight and the madness in their eyes_ — honestly, Shanks almost always hated his power, but here he is happy with it. If it wasn't for her, he might have lost one (or both, both, both...) of the children who were barely able to stand when the Admiral of the Marines _almost killed Luffy._

The ground is split by a haki saber strike and Shanks stands between the kids and the whole fucking world, if necessary — the dead are on his side.

"YOU!—" roars Akainu, getting rid of the seven ghosts of the whitebeard who have died somewhere here at once. "Don't interfere, Akagami!" any other day, in that life or twenty years ago, Shanks would have thought about it. But here, now, when he's the only thing standing between his captain's child with Rouge, incredible-in-everything Luffy and an enraged mad dog spitting magma — **never.**

"Come to your senses, Admiral", the voice is surprisingly smooth and calm, as if he is discussing wine varieties with his brother, "my army is inexhaustible, unlike yours. This war will be lost by you, not by me".

And it's true, and ... he grins, having fun from the heart.

"After all, there are more dead than alive in this world".

_(58)_

It was very strange to hear from the side of the previously standing execution platform that he had eaten fruit Shi-Shi-no-Mi. Looking at the shock and fear in the eyes of some of the marines, who was he to argue, right? 

The war ends without the execution of Portgas D. Ace and even without the death of old Whitebeard.

Shanks is surprised at himself, somewhere under the mask of calm: he has become the kind of person who can end the war with one appearance. Apparently, his father always thought about it. And at the thought of him and his "I told you so" look, he winced, exhaling the stale air. And _looks around._

_Oh._

_O-o-o-o-o-oh…_

Shanks chokes on a laugh so inappropriate and outrageous that even the dead look at him askance.

"Is this a family meeting that no one invited me to?" not that there was anyone who understood him completely.

_(59)_

~~Luther~~ Dracule Mihawk pretends not to know him, and generally looks in the opposite direction from him — _ouch, not even offensive, big guy, not once._

 ~~Diego~~ Buggy looks at him with eyes full of indignation, questions, and betrayal — _he knows that he will have some showdowns after this, especially in front of a man who knew that he was not a user of the Devil's Fruit._

 ~~Allison~~ Boa Hancock looks down at him from her height, heels, and skyscraper high self-esteem — _oh, Klaus missed her so much._

 ~~Five~~ Trafalgar Law, to whom he passed the two stupid d brothers, sidesteps the very-very tall, lanky, blond, dead man, and gives him a scathing look — _Klaus can admit that he missed that "I'll solve the riddle, whatever it takes, let the world burn" look._

 ~~Ben~~ Benn Beckman looks at him for a second and then stands behind him, always covering, always protecting and challenging anyone who dares to continue the battle — _it's so nice that a gentle smile appears on his face._

 ~~Vanya~~ Coby, recruit marines and a boy with pink hair, looks at him with big eyes when he takes the trouble to give him a hand to get up from the ground — _Klaus finds that there is a familiar note of strength and justice in those eyes that his sister has always been looking for._

 ~~Klaus~~ Shanks can finally say that he's home, hiding Luffy and Ace away from the eyes of the World Government and collapsing after them, because the materialization of ghosts, what a surprise, is tiring, to say the least.

Even if none of his family remembers him, _they don't remember each other._ Even if these people have little in common and some of them are mostly strangers to each other. Even if he had to sneak up on Amazon Lily, telling them not to worry, he loved men, unlike the women here; or he would have to raid Marine training bases to kidnap one particular brat, while the Vice Admiral shouted, "I told you, Sengoku! He is a molester of children!"; or he will have to dive to the bottom of the sea in search of a ridiculously bright yellow submarine in order to annoy the new Shichibukai; or he will have to molest the third Shichibukai, in the person of the red-nosed brother; or hug your first mate a little more often when you hear threats about losing your other hand; or break into the castle of a hermit swordsman, chat with _(these aren't my children, you idiot!)_ his brother's cute kids, finding out that one of them is a girl who sees ghosts _(oh no, Lady, not once),_ and the other is nakama Luffy; or visiting Rayleigh with Luffy, who for some reason avoids him, and the heart is old, can't stand it (under Rayleigh's triumphant gaze); or bothering Ace with whitebeards a little more often than before.

But he's _home._

_(60)_

And somewhere in between, _Shanks_ knows, really truly understands, that he's **_happy_**.

**Author's Note:**

> I will be glad to hear your comments! This fic was long, actually...  
> (Green eyes are the color of death, that's what potterman says in me.)
> 
> Shi-Shi-no-Mi is the Fruit of Death. I made it up myself. Normally, it can manipulate death and everything related to it. But it can't resurrect people other than as ghosts or decaying zombies. Sengoku just briefly assumed that Shanks had this Fruit because they were at war, he was a strategist and made quick decisions. After all, it's normal for Yonko be a devil fruit user.
> 
> It could be a long, interesting, deep work. But I know I won't be able to handle it. And I would be happy if it inspired someone to do something like this!


End file.
